isnt this loosely in place already? certain events used as qualifying towards nationals...

Just my humble opinion,but i think the way the sport is in Australia at the moment ( No national tour)a state tour is a sensible idea.Especially when it comes to ranking for the nationals.I know that last year the queensland round of the AKL was also the state title so to speak that was it.At least if you had a couple of rounds you would get a true indication of who is in the top 10.If all the states were able to do this then a national tour would become much more viable in the years to come.Get it right at the grass roots level and everything else will fall into place.

I appreciate your opinion... I totally agree that no sponsor'd rider would give up his ride... It was not about attracting the best riders as there are rider's out there that would have done it when given the kite's for free, up and coming unsponsor'd rider's...

But as I said above plastering the shore with flags was not 100% of the vision 96FM had we I talked with them...

This is a great thread though, it should open up some heated debates on the topic...

regards browneee

Just my personal view on this one .( I am vice pres of WAKSA but am not speaking for the committee )

I see WAKSA's main role from now on as looking after the safety , access and welfare of the majority of kiters .

Comps have been great to get the sport recognised but I feel in the future the kite industry needs to organise and fund the comps .

WAKSA would work with comp organisers to maintain a safety std and not jeopardise access .

As far as Brownee's suggestion of last season , it was a good idea but forcing everyone to ride a type of kite because of advertising was seen as monopolising of that brand and WAKSA cannot and willnot support comps of that nature .

If for example Best was to organise and pay for a comp series and everyone can ride on thier own kites if they want to, then if best wanted to supply kites with advertising to riders that want to use those kites . My personal view is " no problem "

That way Slingshot could organise a comp in Secret Harbour , SOS one at woodies , Airush the windjam at Lano , maybe Best could do one at Safety bay , ect,ect....

I do believe that comps need a new format with more focus on fun and the average kiter .

I think what Gavin is looking at doing next season is on the right track .

There are two dozen or so riders that are keen on the comp thing as it stands at the moment That does not make it worthwhile for WAKSA to put the effort in to organise stuff .

If comps are run in a way that safety is covered and judging is fair , all comps and series of comps can go towards an overall ranking .

These are my personal views only ,
Mike Bergman

Good on you Brownee,
It's good to see there's some interest in comps out there still. I'm in the process of writing a debrief on the National titles for WAKSA and AKSA and will post some thoughts here.

Dan's "wish" of having a WA kite tour is a good one and one day, it will happen. But that day is not now. There's too much "looseness" in our sport from the safety side of things.

The bootom line with any kite comp is money. Money is needed for the organisational side of things and this is raised by sponsorship or by rider entry fees. No-one has ever made any money off kiting comps (to my knowlege anyway) and the energy required to put one on is huge.

If you don't have kiters come to a comp because the wind report is no good that day, it's a tough ask for an event organiser to go through it all again next time.

WAKSA and AKSA conducted a survey of riders and it looks like the "traditional" competition is not really in the full interest of the WAKSA membership. I'm guessing here and can't speak for WAKSA but it appears that their focus is shifting to the more important issues of access and safety. Which in my opinion is excellent and a great thing for everyone.

So....who picks up the batton and takes on competitions?.

I'm going to have one last crack at having a bit of fun with a comp. early season 2005, in my favourite flat water spot. If it wants to be considered as a comp for any tour great.

Until kiting gets more volunteers, more dedicated people prepared to give up personal time to work on events, it's not going to get the support of sponsorship dollars and won't grow. It certainly can't grow without WAKSA and AKSA securing locations and only now, securing insurance.

Without WAKSA doing the grass roots insurance/safety and access, kiting groups can't hold comps of any format. Without the volunteer base a kite group can't get the infastructure in place, without money, whereever it comes from; it won't grow.

Just some thoughts on what is a great "wish" Dan, and please don't misunderstand me here, it's my wish too!. I'm trying to make it reality and there's a lot of things to tick off the list for a comp to go ahead.

For anyone who woud like to hold a comp or is interested in how to go about it, feel free to contact me and I'll show you the path. I've worked out most of the corners now and it's pretty straight forward.

Bottom line, we need sponsorship...sponsorship comes from a commitment and is a commitment. For a company/sponsor to commit to you, you will need to commit to what you are doing and show some results or at least a plan. Wether that be as a rider or event organiser.

From my experience so far and I'm sure Ian Young and Choicey will atest, it's a lot of hard, hard work with little reward. Even worse when riders have an expectation that is far beyond that of the event organising committee. Yet another issue that needs addressing, "rider attitude and behaviour at comps". Not a lot of riders realise who comes along to comps to watch, most definately the people who have put in the money for a start. There might only be 20 people standing around watching and going ooo!! ahhh! at the big jumps. They also drop their heads when the rider they just watched demonstrating fantastic skills on the water opens his mouth at the waters edge and abuse comes out, or disrespect to officials is flagrantly demonstrated...I lost one sponsor from the Nationals who told me that "the image of kitesurfing does not match their companies profile" I don't have control over such things unfortunately. All I can do is (sigh) realise that the sport is young and the ego's are young and tough, especially when we have people that are suddenly...in their eyes, bigger and better than life itself and deserve everyone's "bow down to me respect"(I'll stop there)

Anyway, I'm rambling and what would I know. I'll just keep doing what I do and keep waiting for the evolution of kiting to catch up with every other sport out there that has competitions at State/National and international level.

Kiting as an Olympic sport?. Represent your country against every other countries best.
That's what I'm talking about.!!!